The New Coming
by fairydesigner
Summary: You would think now that with the restoration of proper peace in the four nations would make the world perfect? That is never possible, and because of it, the GAang will once again be forced to take on adventures of learning and fun!
1. Chapter 1: Sleepover Invasion

Chapter I

The night was one of the most beautiful ever; faint pink clouds of coral and rich violet striped and dabbed through the starry sky. The whole world itself seemed to be in harmony and brighter than before. This was ironically true, for it was the night a week after Avatar Aang rid the world of the ruthless Fire Lord, or Phoenix King, Ozai, whose son, Prince Zuko, was named the new Fire Lord. Sparkling parades could be heard and seen in every town in the four nations- even the most stubborn enemies laughed and cheered together till this night. The news of what had happened had nearly spread to the corners of the world, where the northern and southern water tribes joined in the excitement. The fire nation reveled in their new freedom. The Earth Kingdom celebrated the return of their beloved land. All the world was right now.

"Aang, will you stop making out with Katara in the middle of the night? We can hear you from the end of the hall!" Toph's indignant bellow awoke Aang from his disturbed sleep and caused him to throw a mighty blast of wind radiating throughout the room.

Katara was beside him, as well as herself, as she sat up and retorted, "Toph, Aang was sleeping! So was I! We haven't kissed since two days ago!"

"Oh, I suppose all the moaning was done by Momo?" Toph's smug face could not be seen in the midnight darkness.

"What?" Aang almost yelled the word, "How do you know it's not Sokka and Suki? They seem more like the type, anyway."

"I know because they are standing outside your room right now! They complained, too." Aang felt his cheeks grow red in the darkness.

"Well, as you can see here," Katara said very pointedly, "We are not making out or… whatever you thought, so go back to bed before I water-bend your butts there.."

"Well," Socka's voice came drifting through the door, "we would, but we all want to find out who's wailing at night, so we're just going to stay here till morning."

"Wha-" Aang's outraged protest was cut off when Toph jumped straight on top of him and Katara and nestled between them, not bothering to get under the covers. It seemed that the three of them already planned this, because Aang glimpsed Sokka setting up a sleeping bag for himself and Suki. This was his and Katara's honeymoon, not an invasive sleepover

"Good night, sleepy-toes," Toph yawned, and, what began as a very awkward silence turned into a snoring-filled, peaceful night. Except for Aang and Katara, who lay awake there, in their two pressed-together beds. Technically, they weren't sleeping in the same bed, just in close proximity. This luxury was ruined by Toph, of course, and Sokka and even Suki, whom Aang thought would disapprove of this nonsense. Why didn't he get a house to himself like Zuko and Mai had? Katara would think him mature if he had… Did she?

Aang knew it was him doing the "moaning", partly because he had dreams about kissing Katara, but then, he had even more prominent dreams about the grief and destruction that had poisoned the world just days ago. And was it really gone? Aang's heart sank as he realized that he merely stripped Ozai of his power (there shall be no stripping in this fandom) and took his bending away. He went through much to get to where he was now, but was what he did sufficient? How much more did he have to do in this world? What would impede him during his reconstruction for peace? As he lay there, Ang thought his arrow would melt away on his head- he wanted to be anywhere but here. But eventually the seductive snoring proved too… seductive, and Aang fell asleep, moaning again.


	2. Chapter 2: Aang's New Fear

Chapter II

Aang awoke with his head throbbing from ear to ear. The room was empty; Katara and the rest probably got annoyed with the mystery moaning… or went somewhere else at to not disturb him. Yeah, the first choice. Sunlight flittered in through the big window to his left and bounced off all the shiny metal stuff found in the room- an old mirror with polished wooden claws as legs, an array of gold and silver swords that were hung on the wall to his right, and little statuettes of dragons and bison and… flying monkey-lemurs? Momo would be offended.

Aang got stiffly out of bed and walked to one of the statues; this one had two dragons wrapped together to make a glistening spiral about the length of his forearm, where one was a rich bronze color, and the other a brilliant silver that looked nearly blue. He suddenly recognized the two figures as the ancient masters that gave him and Zuko the secret of fire. Seeing it had been so beautiful; watching the blue and red ribbons swirl around him had nearly entranced him and had given him new hope of _peace_.

This thought brought him back to his dream, which had not been a joyride, either- he kept shifting from places to places, traveling to the Air Temple, to the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, then the Fire Nation. He had traveled alone, but constantly felt a presence of something, or someone, there with him-someone familiar and foreign together. In his dream, he witnessed people dying, just… dropping for nothing-even the Fire nation collapsed when he saw it. Was it him who had caused it? Did he have to do something to stop it? Maybe this dream was a sign- maybe he needed to take immediate action to secure the small bond that developed between the three nations- plus him- before it was too late.

This gave him energy, and he nearly bolted from the room. Before he did, he sent a blast of air intended to gracefully fix the bed that instead made them flip over and the pillows fly and nearly hit the expensive metals. Aang, however, didn't have time to be a house-keeper and went, rather defeated, to get dressed. After a minute's struggle with hurriedly pulling on his familiar shirt, he burst through the back doors of the house, leading him to a beautiful, lush green garden. It had dense, wile-shaped trees growing in a semi-circle, a stream bubbling through them, and some really antique-looking, hand- carved benches.

Now Aang saw everyone lounging around, staring at his sudden entrance. Katara was by the stream, of course, making ice figures out of the clear water. Sokka could be seen with Suki, carving what appeared to be a new boomerang. Toph was lazily throwing rocks for Momo to catch. Oppa took up about a third of the garden, and was shamelessly chewing on one of the trees' curly branches.

"Hey, Aang, have a good sleep?" Katara abandoned her fish-ice sculpture and came over.

"Oh, was it a good dream?" Sokka sniggered, looking at him behind a tree. Toph laughed and added, "Yah, we were jealous of how much fun you seemed to be having sleeping, so we decided to leave."

Again, his cheeks went red. "Yah, seeing everyone around me dye was tons of fun!" Aang said, new frustration bubbling inside him.

"Was _that_ what the dream was about?" Katara's expression grew concerned, and everyone seemed to suddenly frown.

"Yah," his anger starting to leave, "I think we should order a councel meeting with the White Lotus." Aang rubbed his head, which still prickled slightly. "We can't wait around for things to get better. What if everyone starts fighting again?" He barely noticed his eyes enlarging.

"Oh, calm down, airhead, you just saved the world!" Toph seemed involved now, because she sat up and stopped throwing rocks. "We _all_ deserve a break, what with you defeating the Loser Lord, me saving Sokka and Suki, Suki battling and kicking butt, Katara kicking Azula's butt, and Sokka… throwing his boomerang…"

"Hey!" said Sokka.

"You throw nicely, honey." Suki pacified him and gave a quick kiss.

"I think the world can be good while we're on vacation." Toph conclided.

"Yah, as much as she is annoying, she's right." Sokka came over to Aang with Suki. "Come on, we can prank Zuko and Mai! Doesn't that sound fun?" Aang just looked at everyone's confused and disapproving looks at Sokka, and let out a sigh.

"What if the world starts fighting without me? I mean- what if I need to do something to keep it balanced, cause you never know if there's another bad guy who wants me destroyed." He hung his head, feeling helpless and foolish. He was the _Avatar_! He could never just sit down and… chuck rocks for Momo, or craft boomerangs, or make ice sculptures.

"Aang, we are going to do something, but not now- not when you still need to rest." Katara put a hand on his arm, and this, sadly, was enough to persuade him. He nodded then, and everyone looked immediately releaved.

"Yeah, Avatar party! Let's go prank Zuko!" Sokka's enthusiasm was so inviting that Aang could not help but agree… to the party, not pranking. Avatars didn't prank.

"Yeah, Aang! Your birthday is _days_ away!" Suki smiled at him, trying to calm Sokka. "We should celebrate. Then you can keep kicking butt."

"Let's go into town- I think they're still re-enacting our heroism!" Toph sounded like Sokka.

"Yah, cause the plays they put on are _so _realistic!" Katara sounded annoyed. "I don't talk about hope _all_ the time!"

"Sure you don't, droplet, nut let's go anyway!" Toph got up, followed by Sokka and Suki. Aang let himself be nudged out of the garden and through the house until they were all standing in the middle of the town. Parades, laughter, monkeys dancing- what could ruin this day?


	3. Chapter 3: Shattering

Chapter III

"Ooh- Aang, look over there! They have a juggling contest! You can win a straw hat!" Sokka rushed over followed by a reluctant Suki to the small line to sign up. Aang just shook his head, smiling slightly.

"Ignore him, Aang. Hey- there's a really cool dance over there! Do you want to go?" Katara was obviously trying to be cheerful, seeing his doubt.

Aang couldn't even get a word in before Toph broke in, yelling outrageously, "Heck, no! What Aang needs is some adrenalin, not all your mushy, love scene stuff!" Toph was obviously ready for some fun. "Let's go to the Earth Bowl!"

"What exactly is the Bowl?" Katara raised a brow. Aang, though, sounded interested.

"It's where earth-benders bend the giant earth bowl and you have to try to not fall or get injured before the time runs out!" Toph's last words were nearly lost as she raced to the bowl, where a line of buff and tough guys were waiting. This didn't seem to bother her at all. In fact, as Aang stared at Toph standing and threatening to punch a muscle-y guy in the face, he realized how very at home she looked.

"I think I'm gonna join her," Aang said, feeling new enthusiasm. This was his time to have fun!

"Oh, ok! I'll… see you later, Aang!" Aang barely felt the guilt of neglecting his best friend as he came to the line to join Toph.

"Hey, twinkle-toes, glad you Toph-ed up!" Toph gave a small snigger at her word-play.

"Yah, but is the Avatar even allowed to play?" Aang asked. "Maybe I should wear a bear costume to make it more interesting?"

"Yah, and we can beat up giant squids while we're at it!" Aang didn't know whether Toph was joking or not. "Either way," she added, "I'm gonna out-stand you!" This time, Aang gave a full, broad smile and said, "You're on! I'll give you the cool metal I found behind the town market- I know you tried to steal it." He said, still smiling.

"Yah, fair point," Toph said rubbing her chin, then said, "And if _I_ win, you have to prank Zuko in the middle of the night, where I'll be laughing AND enjoying the metal you found, which I already stole," she gave a smug expression before going in the bowl.

"Hold on a- oof!" The guard standing by the doorway was about to tell Toph off when she simply punched him in the stomach and went in.

"Uh, yah, I'm with her so…" Aang did one of his witty earth- tricks where he picked up a stone and swirled it above his palm (very similar to a SpongeBob episode) and shyly went in. Thankfully, the guard did not seem to care and took his trick as a mere annoyance.

What greeted Aang as he first walked in was a gaping upside-down arch that lead him inside the actual bowl, which was about the size of a large house. He could see boulders looking deceivably stable on the perimeter, big rock towers protruding randomly out of the earth, and the familiar green-and-gold round earth disks lying carelessly around the bowl. Toph has already taken her place around the centre of the bowl, picking a spot between two rugged boulders and was looking challengingly at Aang. He barely noticed the arena-like structure of the bowl, for it had seats equipped all around with people already eager for the earth brawl.

Aang chose a spot away from all the boulders and other obstructions- he was still used to the open air. He had to wait only moments before a pudgy but sturdy man walked into the center and regarded him and Toph. "You two- the goal of the game is to stay on your feet and not bleed until time runs out. You may attack each other, as well during that time to make things more interesting, but _please_-" the man looked rather concerned now, "do _not_ bend one another from the actual bowl, seeing as you won't get points and cause lots of trouble."

"Okay, I won't fling my opponent _out_ of the bowl," Toph said wryly. Aang just nodded, looking determined, and said, "Ok, we're ready!"

"Great! When you hear the gong, start your mauling! Good luck!" The man made his way back to the entrance and joined a bleacher on the bottom-close row. Silence. Aang's ears seemed to want to detect extra sounds so that the silence seemed to reverberate and be roaring.

After some long moments, Aang heard an echo of a gong go off and had any time to react when Toph sneakily flung a mesh of hard-stones in his direction. Aang dodged them just in time, but was knocked off balance when the earth under him tilted and swayed. This was going to be harder than he thought. When he regained his balance, Aang inhaled and, with a great exhale, rose and pushed a rock wall in Toph's direction. She responded wisely, ducking and creating a dome of earth around her to prevent impact of the wall. As she tore down the wall and her dome, Aang used the advantage to slide the earth from underneath her, but instead dodged an earth disk only a moment before it whizzed past his shoulders. It took only a moment for Toph to act; squaring her shoulders, she uprooted the entire plate of earth Aang had been standing on and spun it as you would a Frisbee towards the boulders. She knew Aang would be able to handle himself, and she was right. he quickly formed an air spiral and spun from the great disk into the air like a firework, landing perfectly on a rock tower top. He was about to launch his next attack when the same echoing sound resonated throughout the bowl.

Before the squatty man strode into the bowl, Aang knew that he was not allowed to perform bending other than earth, especially not air. "Well you made it clear; you're the Avatar, alright," the man gave a small chuckle. "But even that does not allow you to do air-bending in the arena! You're disqualified!" Aang's shoulders sagged and his ears grew hot as he saw people booing, shouting fits of outrage, cheering, and shaking their heads disapprovingly. He could see some wanted him to keep bending, but some, mostly fire-benders, he noticed with a sinking heart, were reproachful.

"Hey- that's not fair! I call a rematch!" Toph's screech carried across the arena.

"Well, if you want to make a match with benders of every kind, please do. But here, we only accept earth-bending!" The man already began to nudge them out before he finished, and felt a disheartened Aang and Toph standing outside the arena.

"Forget them, Aang. They don't know talent if it were hurled in their faces! Let's go find the others. Maybe we can catch Sokka juggling things!"

"I'm actually going to find Katara. She's probably upset I left her for the bowl, anyway." Aang began to walk around, peering over heads and looking in stores when Toph caught up with him. "Wait- are you sure you want to face her wrath now? Come on, let's spend the day something _fun_!" Toph almost dragged Aang along in the opposite direction and nearly knocked a cart of cabbages from the street.

"Wait- I think I saw her!" He tore from her grasp and entered a store. What he saw made his whole being grow hot. Katara was standing at the counter, facing away from Aang, but talking to her was this stranger- this buff, confident, and interested looking guy! Aang could barely keep himself from crying out as he staggered his way out of the store and, ignoring Toph's protests, ran to the house.


	4. Chapter 4: The Birthday Surprises

Chapter IV

The tall, arching mountains looked captivating under the late afternoon sun- bright green against vibrant blue. Did the clouds always look so unnaturally pink and yellow? They were soothing to look at. Aang felt like he was a thunderstorm, sitting on the roof of the house, invading the perfection and tranquility of the scene. But it was hard to care. What did he just see this morning? Katara talking with an un-known stranger! Maybe she was just… talking for fun? Maybe it wasn't even her? Aang mentally shook himself as he realized sadly that he saw her beloved necklace around her neck, as well as the familiar blue hair- clip fastened in her wavy, long hair.

It was her, and the guy she was talking to was smiling… That really set Aang off… Why would the guy be smiling? Maybe Katara was buying something and he was in a vibrant discussion about it? Could he be making offers for her? That meant that he liked her, which meant she had flirted! Aang didn't notice the frown that had resided on his face, and grew at the thought. What could she be buying at the store, anyway? It was filled with earth- nation made weapons and gadgets. She was flirting with him without a purpose, then! But maybe he started to talk and she would decline him?

Aang was hopelessly bombarded with thoughts, with the vision playing in his head like a broken record. It was maddening! He would just confront her himself and ask! Coincidentally, as he made to get up off the roof, Katara's voice drifted in through the window. "Hey, Aang! Did you enjoy your day at the festival?" She didn't sound sad or guilty in any way, and it made Aang go over the edge.

"Wouldn't you know-" He said, and hesitated to continue as he saw Katara's face drop down to a confused expression.

"What? You ran to the bowl like it was full of flying lemurs! I thought you wanted to have some fun, so I-"

"So you left and started flirting with a hunky guy?" Aang was barely repressing from shouting. He wanted to confront her, but the anger building up inside made him reckless. "I saw you talking to that- that- that big, tall guy at the store! Why would you do that, Katara?"

"I was buying your birthday present" Aang's heart fell as he saw tears form in her eyes and the neatly wrapped package in her hands. "I wanted it to be a surprise!" Katara threw it at him, and he barely managed to catch it with fingertips as her streaming hair vanished from view.

"Katara- please…" Aang was lost in mid- sentence as his own eyes started to sting. How could he have done that? How could he so easily be consumed by raw jealousy? He wanted to scream. He wanted to go and hug Katara and beg for forgiveness… He didn't deserve the package, whose colors matched that of the sky and clouds- blue and gold embroidery. He stared at the package and was at the brink of dropping it from the roof when curiosity caught him and made him unravel it.

What lay inside was very beautiful- a wooden, polished horn with a curling symbol engraved on top. It was an air symbol. Aang tried blowing through it, and was disappointed as nothing occurred. He took a closer look and saw that it was, in fact, a spy-glass! He held it up to his eye and looked through. What he expected to see was not what greeted him; instead of the bright green and blue landscape, there swam colors of all kind- darting, jumping, flying… He nearly gasped as he realized the darts were in the shape of animals! This showed the realm of the spirit world! He saw a heavily winged dragon spiral over mountains in the distance, a pure gold wolf- bear sitting cozily under a bowing tree… This must have been made by real air nomads! Only the wisest knew how to use glass and air to form the spirit- spy- glass. He couldn't hold the burning in his eyes and wished so much to thank Katara for the gift. It was beautiful, as well as innovative.

Leaping through the window, Aang raced down the hall and burst into his bedroom, where he knew by instinct Katara would be, sitting quietly on the bed. She was facing away from him, looking at the floor.

"Katara?" Aang said it in a pleading, hesitant voice, unsure of how to start."

He saw her jerk, buut she did not turn to face him. "Katara, I'm so, so sorry!" Aang felt like he was losing her by the second. "I- I didn't know what I was doing! I should have trusted you." Shame washed over him again as he realized how stupid he must have seemed.

"You hurt me." Katara said, still looking at the floor. "I just thought that what we had was… real." She said the last words as she looked at him. Aang saw she wasn't crying anymore, but the words hurt even more because of it.

"It is real!" Aang was purely desperate now- he would rather lose his bending now than her… "I… I just can't lose you." He looked at her, and she at him. Blue eyes stared into bluer, and even though the moment was only a moment, it stretched into oblivion. Katara's eyes, which looked so sad so recently, were now filled with love and kindness. Aang tried his best to show her- to send to her through his eyes-how much he loved her. She came over to him, and they kissed. It was a sweet kiss, honest and kind. The spy- glass was completely forgotten as Aang was overwhelmed with relief and joy. Katara still loves him! After the kiss was over, they stared at each other for a moment longer before Katara said, "Let's go join the others. I think Sokka won his contest." Aang couldn't help but laugh. He walked down the hall and into the crowded streets holding her hand, smiling as he walked.

"There you are! You missed the part where I caught the flaming baton and a cabbage at the same time!" Sokka hurried towards Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, and Mai, holding a repellant stuffed monkey In his arms.

"Who's your friend?" Toph tried to sound genuinely interested, but stifled a laugh quickly.

"Gang, meet Fluzzy. He's the newest member of the team! It's my birthday present to you, Aang" Sokka gave a big grin, shoving the stuffed monkey towards him. "Um, th- that's okay, Sokka, Momo doesn't need a playmate." Aang tried to refuse the monkey, seeing it had something gooey on its ear, but took it when he saw Sokka's stricken face.

"Wow, Sokka, your present almost beat mine!" Zuko smirked a little, and then turned to Aang. "Here- I got you a fire-bending scroll. You could to better with practice." He handed Aang a brown parcel, and, besides its unflattering covering, Aang ripped it open to see the scroll. It had deep red paper on one side, with gold flames etched around boarder. On the other side, dark figures displaying positions and procedures covered the page. It was intense.

"Gee, thanks, Zuko!" Aang grinned, "I'll try to do the spinning one when I get home!" Zuko nodded, looking rather bored.

"Well, I got you-" Toph pushed aside everyone to face Aang, "a rock!" She held out a large lump in her hand, looking pleased with herself.

"A rock?" Katara raised an eyebrow. "Just what will Aang do with a rock?"

"For your info," Toph said, looking offended, "It's magical. Look at it closer!" Aang took the rock gingerly and held it to his face. No way it could be a spy-glass or something. But the rock did seem to glow as he looked at it, emitting a warm, bronze glow.

"What is this?" Aang said, turning the grapefruit sized rock in his hand.

"It's some metal from the blimps we destroyed, mixed with some of that lava stuff I found while you were with the Loser Lord. Yah- it's malleable and impermeable! You can make weapons out of it!"

"Ah, cool! Let me try it!" Aang prepared himself, and made the metal steadily longer, smoother, and sharper. "Look- it's a metallic stick!" Everyone laughed, because it did look like one- smooth, but wavy and bent.

"Gee- thanks, Toph!" Aang hugged her, and she slapped his back hard. "Ouch."

Suki stepped into the group rather shyly. Her hands were behind her back and she was looking apologetic. "Sorry, Aang, but I didn't get you a present-" she then took her hands from behind her, and added, "Hope this will do, though "Ooh!" Half the gang sighed as Aang took a detailed pendant in his hand.

"It's the insignia of the Kio-shee Warriors," Suki said proudly. "It's not as good as traditional ones, since I made it." Aang hung the round sickle around his neck and hugged Suki, mumbling a 'thanks'.

"Hmmm, who are we missing?" Sokka said pretentuously. "Momo, give Aang his gift!" Momo flew into view and dropped on Aang's shoulders and held out some nuts. Everyone laughed, looking at how ecxited Momo was.

"Oh, yah, Oppa! Come here!" Aang yelled, and was soon joined by the big sky bison, who, following tradition, bucked the whole group so that they fell under his mass. Everything that was bad in the world seemed to disappear. But then-

"Down with the king! Down with the king! Down with the king…" Many voices could be heard on neaarby streets. Faint light flickered and pacing feet could be heard, out an angry vibrating sensation.

Aang knew this was trouble. He had to see the white lotus


End file.
